National 5Scottish Texts

PoetryNorman MacCaig

Name: ________________________________________________________________Class: ________________________________________________________________Teacher: ________________________________________________________________

Norman MacCaig - Biography

Poetry for National 5 Scottish Set Texts

Norman MacCaig (1910-1996).

Studied at Edinburgh’s Royal High School and University of Edinburgh.

Registered as a conscientious objector during WWII and spent time in prison for his beliefs.

Worked as a primary teacher. In 1967 appointed as Fellow of Creative Writing at Edinburgh University

In 1970 became Reader in Poetry at Stirling University.

A few notes about his poetry:

Nature – describes nature and reflects on nature and its relationship with man; he also pays homage to the scenery (in particular of the North of Scotland) in many of his poems.

People and Places - As well as attempting to bring certain places to life, MacCaig also attempts to create clear, vivid descriptions of certain characters and places, based on the poet’s own experiences and often based on his family and friends (eg. Aunt Julia, Visiting Hour, Assisi, etc.).

He aims to be as direct as possible and to convey his message to the reader clearly. Most of his poetry is in fact full of vivid images which convey descriptions clearly and immediately.

Norman MacCaig's Aunt Julia lived on Scalpay, a small island off the coast of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Aunt Julia lived a traditional, hardworking life on a croft and she spoke only her native Gaelic language.

Julia is depicted in a series of striking metaphors that show how the young narrator connects her with elements of nature: with the earth, with water and with air. The last stanza introduces a tone of regret. The reason for this

regret is that only after Julia's death did the poet learn enough Gaelic to be able to communicate with her.

Aunt JuliaAunt Julia spoke Gaelic

very loud and very fast.

I could not answer her —

I could not understand her.

She wore men's boots

when she wore any.

— I can see her strong foot,

stained with peat,

paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel

while her right hand drew yarn

marvellously out of the air.

Hers was the only house

where I've lain at night

in a box bed, listening to

crickets being friendly.

She was buckets

and water flouncing into them.

She was winds pouring wetly

round house-ends.

She was brown eggs, black skirts

and a keeper of threepenny bits

in a teapot.

Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic

very loud and very fast.

By the time I had learned

a little, she lay

silenced in the absolute black

of a sandy grave

at Luskentyre.

But I hear her still, welcoming me

with a seagull's voice

across a hundred yards

of peatscrapes and lazybeds

and getting angry, getting angry

with so many questions

unanswered.

STRUCTURE : Writing in free verse helps to create a conversational style and tone, while the use of enjambment and repetition allow him to emphasise key aspects of the poem.

The poet employs a first person narrative stance. Like all MacCaig poetry, part of its success lies in his skill of using accessible language in an incredibly skilful and effective way.

Writing in free verse helps to create a conversational style and tone, while the use of enjambment and repetition allow him to emphasise key aspects of the poem.

The poem is divided into five stanzas which each deal with a specific focus. The first introduces us to the subject of the poem- Aunt Julia. The second describes her physical appearance and the objects MacCaig most strongly associates with her.

In the third stanza, the perspective moves away from Julia to the way the poet felt when he visited her while in the fourth he uses personification to create a sense of her character.

The concluding stanza reflects on his own frustration that he was unable to communicate effectively with her while she was alive, at the same time as expressing his enduring affection and admiration for her.

KEY THEMES: One of the main themes which emerges in this poem is the sense of isolation felt by the speaker, who is frustrated by his inability to communicate effectively with this much loved relative. Despite this barrier though, he shows us that emotions can often transcend language through the obvious, almost spiritual connection and affection between the two.

On a wider level, Julia comes to symbolise elements of a distinct Scottish heritage, language and culture that are at risk of disappearing forever in the modern world.

TONE: The tone of the poem is largely admiration for the poet’s Aunt. The closing stanza uses a tone of anger and regret for missed opportunities.

THEMES CONNECT WITH: Aunt Julia, Visiting Hour, Sounds of the Day, Memorial

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 11. Many of the main ideas or concerns of the poem are established in the

first two stanzas.

a) Identify TWO of these main ideas or concerns from the first two stanzas. (2 Marks)

b) Choose one of the ideas you have identified. Show how TWO examples of the poet’s language in these stanzas help you to understand his meaning. (2 Marks)

2. Show how the poet’s use of language in stanzas three and four effectively contributes to your understanding of his Aunt’s personality or

situation. (4 Marks)

3. How effective do you find the final stanza as a conclusion to the poem? Your answer should deal with the poet’s ideas and language. (4 Marks)

4. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar OR different to another poem or poems by MacCaig which you have read. (8 Marks)

.

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 2

1. The first two stanzas of the poem establish the character of Aunt Julia and MacCaig’s attitude to her. (2 Marks)

a) Using your own words, summarise what Aunt Julia is like. Make at least two key points. (2 Marks)

b) Show how the writer’s use of language effectively conveys the character of Aunt Julia. (4 Marks)

2. How do stanza 3 and 4 develop the main ideas or concerns of the poem?

3. With close reference to the text, show how the poet’s use of language in lines 23-36 make clear the feelings of the poet about Aunt Julia. (4 Marks)

4. With Close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar or different to another poem or poems by Norman MacCaig that you have read. (8 Marks)

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 3 – from SQA National 5 English – Specimen Question Paper

1. By referring to one technique, show how the first stanza is an effective opening tothe poem. (2 Marks)

2. In stanza two, show how MacCaig uses language to convey the memorable aspects of Aunt Julia’s personality.

(4 Marks)

3. Show how any one example of the poet’s use of language in stanza four contributes to his description of Aunt Julia. (2 Marks)

4. By referring to the last stanza, show how MacCaig creates a sense of regret. (4 Marks)

5. MacCaig often observes people or places in his poetry. Referring closely to this poem and to at least one other poem by MacCaig, show how MacCaig uses observation of people or places in his poems. (8 Marks)

Quotation Analysis/Evaluation

On a holiday to Assisi, the poet Norman MacCaig goes on a guided tour of the church dedicated to St Francis of Assisi.

A beggar sits outside the Church of St Francis and is ignored by the priest and tourists who are looking at Giotto's famous frescoes.

MacCaig wonders why the priest is looking after the needs of the tourists and is ignoring the needs of the dwarf. He realises that the spirit of St Francis is not found inside the church, or in the priest but in the inner beauty of the dwarf.

Assisi

The dwarf with his hands on backwardssat, slumped like a half-filled sackon tiny twisted legs from whichsawdust might run,outside the three tiers of churches builtin honour of St Francis, brotherof the poor, talker with birds, over whomhe had the advantageof not being dead yet.

A priest explainedhow clever it was of Giottoto make his frescoes tell storiesthat would reveal to the illiterate the goodnessof God and the sufferingof His Son. I understoodthe explanation andthe cleverness.

A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly,fluttered after him as he scatteredthe grain of the Word. It was they who had passedthe ruined temple outside, whose eyeswept pus, whose back was higherthan his head, whose lopsided mouthsaid Grazie in a voice as sweetor a bird's when it spoketo St Francis.STRUCTURE: Free verse used throughout poem in order to better convey

poet’s experience.

Verse 1 – The dwarf

Verse 2 – The priest

Verse 3 – The tourists – and back to the dwarf

Page | 8

TONE: Bitter and cynical towards the church and tourists.

KEY THEMES: The main themes of this poem are suffering, poverty and the hypocrisy of the Church.

THEMES CONNECT WITH: Visiting Hour

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE - 1

1. In the opening stanza, MacCaig describes the beggar in some detail.

(a) Show how two of the examples of the poet’s language in stanza one help the reader to feel sympathy for the beggar.

(4 Marks)

(b) How does the description of the beggar introduce the main concerns or ideas of the poem?

(2 Marks)

2. Show how any two examples of the poet’s use of language in stanza two or stanza three effectively contribute to the main ideas or concerns of the poem.

(4 Marks)

3. How effective do you find any aspect of the final stanza as a conclusion to the poem? Your answer might deal with ideas and / or language.

(2 Marks)

4. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and / or language of this poem are similar OR different to other poems by MacCaig which you have read.

(8 Marks)

Page | 9

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE – 21. The poem is split into three stanzas, which begin with the words

‘The dwarf’, ‘the priest’ and ‘A rush of tourists’. In your own words, explain clearly what each of these people/ groups are doing. (3 Marks)

2. Show how two examples of the poet’s use of language in stanza 1 help you to clarify or illustrate the main ideas or concerns of the poem.

(4 Marks)

3. How effective do you find the second stanza in developing the main concerns or ideas of the poem. (2 Marks)

4. What emotional response does the reader feel towards either the tourists or the beggar? Show how the language of the final stanza creates this response. (3 Marks)

5. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar OR different to another poem or poems by Norman MacCaig that you have read (8 Marks)

.

Page | 10

Quotation Analysis/Evaluation

Page | 11

Page | 12

The poet is visiting a very ill relative in hospital, and tries to avoid his emotions on his way to the ward.

He describes his journey from the entrance to the ward as he also reflects on life, death and suffering.

When he arrives, he is overcome by grief and anguish and leaves the visit feeling it has been pointless.

Visiting Hour

The hospital smell combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along green and yellow corridors.

What seems a corpse is trundled into a lift and vanishes heavenward.

I will not feel, I will not feel, until I have to.

Nurses walk lightly, swiftly, here and up and down and there, their slender waists miraculously carrying their burden of so much pain, so many deaths, their eyes still clear after so many farewells.

Ward 7. She lies in a white cave of forgetfulness. A withered hand trembles on its stalk. Eyes move behind eyelids too heavy to raise. Into an arm wasted of colour a glass fang is fixed, not guzzling but giving. And between her and me distance shrinks till there is none left but the distance of pain that neither she nor I can cross.

She smiles a little at this black figure in her white cave who clumsily rises in the round swimming waves of a bell and dizzily goes off, growing fainter, not smaller, leaving behind only books that will not be read and fruitless fruits

Page | 13

STRUCTURE : Free verse used throughout poem in order to better convey poet’s confused emotions. The poem is a stream of consciousness from a first person stance which allows us to experience the emotions of the speaker as he is feeling them. It is written in free verse and the present tense, and follows the chronological order of the visit.MacCaig often employs the techniques of enjambment and repetition in this poem to emphasise the central ideas.

TONE: The tone in the poem changes. Begins nervously/humorously then shifts to sadness when faced with patient.

KEY THEMES

Facing Death (either the dying person, or the relative) Isolation surrounding death/illness

THEMES CONNECT WITH: Assisi, Aunt Julia, Memorial, Sounds of the Day

Questions on `Visiting Hour`

1. Stanza one establishes the unease that the poet feels in relation to his surroundings.

a) Identify and comment on one technique used to show this unease.

(2 Marks)

b) How is this sense of unease developed in stanzas two and three?

(4 Marks)

2. The second half of the poem focuses on the isolation of the patient and the barrier between the sick and the rest of us .By close examination show how the techniques used develop this idea.

(4 Marks)

3. In verse five there are four main images which all indicate the woman’s frailty and the visitor’s inability to do anything. Identify two of these and comment on their effect.

(2 Marks)

4. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar or different to another poem by MacCaig which you have read. (8 Marks)

Page | 14

Page | 15

Quotation Analysis/Evaluation

Page | 16

The speaker in Sounds of the Day reflects upon a parting. The poem opens with natural sounds, while the sound of a closing door signals the opening of the second stanza and turns the poem from the pleasant picture of nature towards a darker, more reflective focus.

SOUNDS OF THE DAY

When a clatter came,It was horses crossing the ford.When the air creaked, it wasA lapwing seeing us off the premisesOf its private marsh. A snuffling puffTen yards from the boat was the tide blocking,Unblocking a hole in a rock.When the black drums rolled, it was waterFalling sixty feet into itself.

When the doorScraped shut, it was the endOf all the sounds there are.

You left meBeside the quietest fire in the world.

I thought I was hurt in my pride only,Forgetting that,When you plunge your hand in freezing water,You feelA bangle of ice around your wristBefore the whole hand goes numb

STRUCTURE: This poem is written in free verse made up of four irregular stanzas. The division between each of the stanzas helps to focus the reader on the specific idea that is contained within each one and the poem is organised in a fairly straightforward chronological order.

KEY THEMES: This poem deals with the themes of love and loss. MacCaig explores how parting affects us in a significant way. He captures both the initial, difficult pain of a breakup but also the lasting effect such experiences can have on us.

THEMES CONNECT WITH: Aunt Julia, Visiting Hour, Memorial

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 1Page | 17

1. In the opening stanza, MacCaig describes the sounds that can be heard.

a) Show how two examples of the poet’s language in stanza one help the reader to hear these sounds. (4 marks)

b) Show how the language used in stanza one creates an impression of nature. (2 marks)

2. Show how any two examples of the poet’s language in the remaining stanzas effectively contribute to the main ideas or concerns of the poem.

(4 marks)

3. Show how the language used in the poem creates a contrast in atmosphere. (2 marks)

4. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and / or language of this poem are similar OR different to other poems by MacCaig which you have read. (8 marks)

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 21. The first stanza describes the ‘sounds’ of the title.

a) In your own words, explain what two of these sounds are. (2 Marks)

b) Referring closely to the text, comment on the effectiveness of any two of these descriptions. (4 Marks)

2. Show how the poet’s use of contrast in lines 10-14 effectively contributes to the main ideas of the poem. (4 Marks)

3. How effective do you find the language of the final stanza as a conclusion to the poem? (2 Marks)

Page | 18

4. With close textual reference, show how ideas and/or language of this poem are similar OR different to another poem or poems by Norman MacCaig that you have read.

(8 Marks)

Page | 19

Quotation Analysis/Evaluation

MemorialEverywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies.No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountainbut has her death in it.The silence of her dying sounds throughthe carousel of language. It’s a webon which laughter stitches itself. How can my handclasp another’s when between themis that thick death, that intolerable distance? She grieves for my grief. Dying, she tells methat bird dives from the sun, that fishleaps into it. No crocus is carved more gentlythan the way her dyingshapes my mind. – But I hear, too,the other words,black words that make the soundof soundlessness, that name the nowhereshe is continuously going into. Ever since she diedshe can’t stop dying. She makes meher elegy. I am a walking masterpiece,a true fictionof the ugliness of death.I am her sad music.

STRUCTURE : Free verse used throughout poem in order to better convey poet’s confused emotions over her death.

TONE: The tone remains sorrowful throughout. The only hint of optimism lies in the beauty he sees in her death- “crocus carved more gently”(stanza 2).

KEY THEMES

Facing Death (either the dying person, or the relative) Isolation surrounding death/illness

Page | 20

This poem is an elegy, a poem that is a lament for the dead, for a beloved person in MacCaig’s life. That person is probably MacCaig’s sister, Frances, who died in 1968 as this poem was published in 1971.

Memorial is a sad poem about how the sense of loss of the poet’s dear one pervades every aspect of his life. Her death, he makes clear, stays with him constantly.

As an atheist, there were no easy comforts for him; no promises of life or resurrection beyond the grave. For him death presented an awful finality.

THEMES CONNECT WITH: Assisi, Aunt Julia, Visiting Hour, Sounds of the Day

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 11. In the opening stanza, the poet establishes the main concerns of the

poem.

a) Identify the mood he creates in this stanza, and explain why this is the case. (2 Marks)

b) Show how two examples of the poet’s imagery in this stanza help the reader to understand the strength of his feelings.

(4 Marks)

2. In the second stanza, identify two examples of the poet’s language which contribute to the main ideas of the poem. (4 Marks)

3. How effectively does the language of the final stanza conclude the poem?

Choose one example. (2 Marks)

4. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar OR different to another poem or poems by MacCaig which you have studied.

(8 Marks)

Page | 21

Page | 22

Quotation Analysis/Evaluation

Page | 23

BASKING SHARK

To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,

To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea

Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me.

But not too often - though enough. I count as gain

That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain,

That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.

He displaced more than water. He shoggled me

Centuries back - this decadent townee

Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree.

Swish up the dirt and, when it settles, a spring

Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling,

Emerging from the slime of everything.

So who's the monster? The thought made me grow pale

For twenty seconds while, sail after sail,

The tall fin slid away and then the tail.

STRUCTURE : The poet uses rhyming triplets in this poem.

TONE: This rhyme adds a light-hearted tone to the poem. The tone only changes to a more fearful, serious tone in the final verse, “So who’s the monster?”

KEY THEMES

Nature and man’s connection to nature Man’s position within evolution

THEMES CONNECT WITH: Aunt Julia, Memorial, Sounds of the Day

Page | 24

The poet imagines himself in a rowing boat out at sea. It is raining.

He hits what he thinks is a rock, but it is actually a basking shark. The shark rises out of the water.

This experience makes the poet think about where he (and all humans) came from. Although the shark is huge in size, it is not as dangerous as humans can be.

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE 11. Briefly show how the language of the opening line is used to introduce the

poem. (2 Marks)

2. The speaker has a mixture of feelings on encountering the shark. By close examination of lines 2-6, show what these feelings are and how they are revealed. (4 Marks)

3 . “That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain” (line 6).

Look in detail at the lines which follow and trace the development of the images of evolution which end in the question, “So who’s the monster?” (line 13) (4 Marks)

4. The personality of the speaker is clearly portrayed in the poem as a whole. By investigating any relevant word or phrase, show what you consider to be revealed.

(2 Marks)5. With close textual reference, show how the natural world is explored in

the language and / or ideas of this poem and one other MacCaig poem which you have studied.

(8 Marks)

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 2 – FROM 2014 NATIONAL 5 PAST PAPER

1. Look at stanza 1. What event is described in this stanza and how does MacCaig react? Refer to the poet’s language in your answer. (3 Marks)

2. Referring closely to stanza 2, show how MacCaig uses word choice to convey how he feels about the encounter. (4 Marks)

3. “He displaced more than water”. Explain what this line means and show how the poet in the rest of the stanza develops this idea further. (3 Marks)

4. Choose an example of word choice in stanza 4 and explain how effective you find this example. (2 Marks)

Page | 25

5. MacCaig often describes his personal experiences in his poetry, using these to explore wider themes. Referring closely to this poem and to at least one other poem by MacCaig, show how he uses personal experience to explore wider themes.

(8 Marks)

Page | 26

Quotation Analysis/Evaluation

Page | 27

Page | 28

IDEAS Poem 1 Poem 2 Poem 3 Poem 4

Themes Assisi Visiting Hour

Aunt Julia Memorial

IsolationOf the speaker

Of the ill

Sense of isolation due to suffering

x x x

Facing death/ Loss/ Parting x x x

Suffering x x

Nature x x

The process of evolution and our own place in it

Page | 29

LANGUAGE Poem 1 Poem 2 Poem 3 Poem 4

Style/ Features Assisi Visiting Hour

Aunt Julia Memorial

Use of imagery (similes/ metaphors/ personification/ syneddoche)

x x x x

Word choice x x x x

Sentence Structure (questions, lists, long/short sentences, repetition)

x x x x

Juxtaposition/ Contrast x

Paradox x x

Oxymoron x

Alliteration/ Assonance x

Enjambement x

Tone/Mood Bitter/ cynical

Sad/ nervous

Admiration/ anger

Sad/ sorrow

Sound Techniques (Onomatopoeia)